Growing drug problem tackled at conference

DOVER — Today, it is hard to watch a prime time show without seeing advertisements for prescription drugs.

These drugs are addicting for some and are causing what Melissa Silvey of One Voice for Southeastern New Hampshire is calling an epidemic across the state.

The Granite State's prescription drug addiction is tenth highest in the country.

One Voice for Southeastern New Hampshire, an organization responsible for substance abuse prevention for 20 communities in Strafford County and adjacent towns, held its second annual prescription drug conference on Friday at Wentworth-Douglass to connect the community with strategies and solutions.

Dover Police Chief Anthony Colarusso told the people attending the conference that the problem can be seen right in Dover. Burglaries are on the rise and the department has discovered many of the perpetrators were addicted to pills.

“It is time for action,” he said.

Farmington Police Chief Kevin Willey said robberies are on the rise in his community as well. Farmington is less than a quarter the size of Dover and had nearly the same amount of robberies last year.

Within the three and a half years that Marc Beaudoin has been the drug diversion detective for the state, he has dealt with more than 200 cases where people have been addicted to prescription drugs.

According to Lisa Mure, senior consultant with the Community Health Institute, who was a part of a panel discussion at the conference, prescription painkiller sales, deaths and substance abuse treatment admissions have been on a significant rise since 1999.

People ages 18 to 25 are abusing the most, with 12 to 17 year olds being the second most common age range to abuse.

In 2011, there were 200 prescription drug related deaths in the state.

Drug deaths are most commonly caused by heroin, oxycodone, methadone, cocaine and morphine.

To fix the problem, Mure said there needs to be more professional development and training, better surveillance, storage and disposal of drugs.

While drug takeback days work in some communities, Willey said his department held one in Farmington last year and had just two people turn in medication.

Willey said this is because prescription drugs are a commodity.

“They are something that have a worth to the people who have them,” he said. “They don't want to run around and turn them in and get nothing for them when you can turn them around and re-supplement your income.”

Beaudoin said these drugs are being administered to addicts in a number of ways, such as altering prescriptions, phoning in false prescriptions and from stealing from employees or homes.

He said he interviewed one New Hampshire man who “doctor shopped,” meaning, he would visit a number of medical practitioners, emergency rooms and doctor's offices to get medication.

He said the man even faked a fall off a ladder by setting a ladder down by a house and laying next to it while he called 9-1-1 just to get painkillers.

Tamas Peredy, Medical Director for Maine Medical Center's Emergency Department, said he now devotes a third of his practice to prescription drug abuse. He said while many people may believe emergency departments contribute to the problem, he said “maybe 5-percent” of the total consumption of opiates are actually coming from there.

“How did we get into this mess?” he asked, adding the United States consumes more than half of the world's supply of opiates.

Tym Rouke, chair of the Governors Commission on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention, Intervention and Treatment, said Strafford County has actually been at the forefront of solving the problem in the state.

“We can't move the needle unless we provide care to those who need it,” he said.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.